No. 3 Georgia Tech Takes Game One From No. 2 UM, 13-9
March 27, 2009
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The second-ranked University of Miami baseball team dropped its second consecutive series opener, falling 13-9 to No. 3 Georgia Tech in front of 3,105 Friday night at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
Chris Hernandez (2-2) lost the second game of his career and his second in as many starts for the Hurricanes (19-6, 7-3 ACC), allowing a career-high seven runs in 5 1/3 innings. Georgia Tech’s ace Deck McGuire (5-0) picked up the win for the Yellow Jackets, who moved to 17-3 on the season and 7-1 in ACC play.
Trailing 5-3 after five, the Yellow Jackets put seven runs on the board in the top of the sixth to take a 10-5 lead before eventually picking up the four-run victory.
Miami gave up a season-high five homeruns, including a grand slam and two two-run homers.
Hurricane second baseman Scott Lawson reached base in all five of his plate appearances, going 3-for-3 on the night with two walks and three RBI. Nathan Melendres also continued his weekend hitting dominance, going 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Lawson plated the first run of the game for the Hurricanes as he scored from second on a slow groundout to first.
Miami extended their lead to 3-0 by adding two runs in the second as Lawson hit a two-run single, scoring Ryan Jackson from third and Melendres from second.
After a walk and a single in the third, Georgia Tech was able to tie it up when Jeff Rowland hit a three-run homer off Hernandez. It was just the second homerun of the season allowed by Miami’s ace.
The Hurricanes were able to retake the lead in the fourth, going up 5-3, but the lead wouldn’t last long.
Georgia Tech stormed back in the top of the sixth as Jason Garofalo hit a grand slam and Jeff Rowland hit a two-run homerun to give the Yellow Jackets an 10-5 lead. Derek Dietrich, Jason Haniger and Tony Plagman singled to start the inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, Hernandez then hit Luke Murton forcing in a run and narrowing the Miami lead to 5-4. After striking out Matt Skole, Hernandez was replaced by Michael Rudman with one out and the bases loaded. Rudman proceeded to allow his first runs of the season, giving up two homeruns. The first batter he faced was Garofalo, whose grand slam home run was only his second homer this season.
After Tech hit another two-run homer in the seventh to go up 12-5, UM added three runs in the seventh to cut the deficit to 12-8.
The three-run seventh for UM came in rare fashion. With the bases loaded, Jason Hagerty hit the ball over the centerfield wall, scoring three runs. The apparent grand slam was officially ruled a three-run single however, as Hagerty passed Ted Blackman, the runner on first, and was called out. The Hurricanes had loaded the bases on two singles by Melendres and Lawson and a walk issued to Blackman.
Georgia Tech was able to hold the Hurricanes after their base-running miscue, and eventually won 13-9.
Five Yellow Jackets finished with multiple hits, including Murton and Garofalo who drove in eight of Tech’s 13 runs.
The Hurricanes and Yellow Jackets will continue their three-game series Saturday night (7 p.m.) and Sunday afternoon (1 p.m.) at Alex Rodriguez Park. Saturday’s probable starters are David Gutierrez (2-1) for Miami and Zach Von Tersch (4-1) for Georgia Tech.
Game Notes
-Miami snapped a six-game winning streak against the Yellow Jackets with tonight’s loss.
-Chris Herrmann extended his team-high hitting streak to nine games with a single in the ninth.
-Chris Hernandez gave up only his second homerun of the season in the third inning.
-Michael Rudman allowed his first runs of the season in Georgia Tech’s seven-run sixth inning, including two homeruns.
-For the second game this week, Miami took a 1-0 lead in the first without recording a hit.
-Melendres continued his weekend dominance, going 3-for-4 improving his weekend average to .379 (25-of-66).
– The last time UM gave up five home runs in one game was May 19, 2006 vs. Georgia Tech.
